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Podcast dramas gain audience, morph to TV shows

Listened to any good television shows lately

By LYNN ELBER, Associated Press
Published: July 1, 2022, 6:40am
3 Photos
This image released by Wolf Entertainment shows art for the fiction podcast "Dark Woods," with Corey Stoll and Monica Raymund.
This image released by Wolf Entertainment shows art for the fiction podcast "Dark Woods," with Corey Stoll and Monica Raymund. (Wolf Entertainment via AP) Photo Gallery

LOS ANGELES — Listened to any good television shows lately?

If you’re glued to a scripted podcast drama, you may be auditioning a potential TV series — a result of Hollywood’s demand for small-screen material and the realization that podcasts beyond nonfiction are a valuable resource.

Dramatizations of fact-based podcasts such as Wondery’s “WeCrashed,” about the WeWork business debacle, and Dateline NBC’s crime saga “The Thing About Pam” have become TV staples with top actors including Jared Leto and Renée Zellweger.

But there’s a new wave of fiction podcasts, some made with the express intent of judging a story’s worthiness for a second life on screen, emerging from prominent newcomers to the audio world. They’re seizing on podcasts as a more cost-effective way to test a series concept than filming a TV pilot, and more persuasive than a written pitch.

“Very traditional, legacy media companies” see fiction podcasts as content to be mined, said Mark Stern, a former studio chief and head of Syfy channel’s original content for a decade. Stern himself has shifted gears: He’s president of Echoverse, a podcast studio launched in 2020 with a focus on sci-fi, fantasy and supernatural stories.

“We really started this business as an opportunity to absolutely create best-in-class audio dramas, but with very much an eye toward having them serve as proof-of-concept IP (intellectual property) that could then launch TV and film and graphic novels,” said Stern.

That reflects the approach of Wolf Entertainment, whose network franchises include “Chicago,” “FBI” and the enduring “Law & Order.” The company headed by Dick Wolf is producing podcasts including “Hunted,” starring Parker Posey and Brandon Scott, and “Dark Woods” with Corey Stoll and Monica Raymund — the latter drama in development by Universal Television.

For studio executives inundated with series proposals that often consist of a single page of description, a well-made podcast is a valuable alternative, said Elliot Wolf, the executive producer of “Dark Woods.”

“You have the ability to really immerse yourself in an audio series that paints the picture much better than anything you can do with the written word,” Wolf said. He joined his father’s company, then Wolf Films, about three years ago and is part of its rebranding that includes storytelling in new media.

Stern detailed the economic upside of gauging a series’ viability based on a podcast as opposed to a pilot. “Let’s say that a really well-done season of a scripted podcast is a half-million dollars. Good luck getting an hour of television for $5 million,” he said.

Andy Bowers, a pioneer in podcast production and technology, says Hollywood was bound to catch on.

“I was touting this to some production companies and studios five years ago, saying, ‘This is a great way to test out concepts. You don’t need lighting, you don’t need location shooting, you don’t need expensive sets,’” Bowers said. Their reaction? “‘Yeah, maybe later,’’ he recalled.

Streaming demands

Fiction isn’t new to the podcasting party. “Welcome to Night Vale,” a cult hit that’s become the basis of books, albums and live shows in the U.S. and internationally, is marking its 10th year.

But it took a confluence of events to raise podcasting’s profile and change attitudes: The proliferation of streaming services with a voracious need for shows, like Apple TV+ and Peacock, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mimi O’Donnell was hired as head of scripted programming for Spotify-owned podcast company Gimlet Media after its “Homecoming” drama made a splash in 2018 with film star Julia Roberts topping the Prime Video adaptation. But Hollywood remained resistant to fiction podcasts’ value to TV, O’Donnell said.

Podcasts and their screen incarnations will differ, said O’Donnell, who was a theater company director before coming to Gimlet. She cites the example of “The Horror of Dolores Roach,” which began life as a one-woman play written by Aaron Mark and produced for the stage by O’Donnell.

She worked with the playwright on an adaption of the play for one of her first Gimlet podcasts and it proved a winner. It was snapped up by Amazon Studios for a series adaptation, with Mark writing the pilot episode and serving as a co-showrunner.

“To me, that’s the dream scenario of how a story can evolve in different mediums and the same creator go with it…. and figure how the story can live” in each one, O’Donnell said.

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